Motivating Your Players

Transcription

1 Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their players and motivate. VINCE LOMBARDI C H A P T E R 4 Motivating Your Players One of the most challenging roles you have as a manager is that of keeping your people motivated. But how do you get inside their heads to keep them motivated? An underlying principle for improving workplace performance is that motivation comes from within the individual, not from outside. Yet as a manager, you are an outsider. So, to motivate your employees, you must identify their underlying needs and create a work environment in which these needs can be fulfilled. The challenge is that each person has different needs and, therefore, different motivators. As was the case with leadership style, you have to adjust your means of creating a motivating work environment to meet the unique needs of your people. This chapter presents an analysis of human needs, particularly as applied to the workplace, and then gives you tips on how to apply that knowledge to motivate your employees by identifying and meeting their needs in the work environment where possible. Individual Needs and Motivation The relationship between an employee s needs and how he or she is motivated is depicted in Figure 4-1. The employee would like to satisfy a certain underlying $ $CH :28:01 PS

2 54 DEVELOPING THE TEAM FIGURE 4-1. SATISFACTION OF INDIVIDUAL NEEDS Tension Grows Need Need Satisfied Behavior Follows $ $CH :28:02 PS PAGE 5

3 MOTIVATING YOUR PLAYERS 55 need. If this need is not immediately satisfied, tension grows and then behavior follows as the employee tries to relieve the tension and satisfy the need. In the simplest situations, the need is satisfied quickly. For example, suppose an employee has a need for a cup of coffee because of thirst, habit, and/or caffeine addiction. Tension grows when the employee realizes that no one has brewed a pot of coffee that morning. The employee could wait for someone else to brew the coffee, but decides to make the coffee. Tension grows as, drop by drop, the coffee falls into the pot. The employee then switches the pot with a coffee cup to fill the cup before the pot fills. The need is finally satisfied. Another example of how needs cause behavior is how individuals form longterm relationships, such as marriage. Many different needs are met when two people enter a long-term relationship. Companionship is certainly one of these needs, but, for many people, so is security. In some cases, one spouse enters into the relationship to fulfill different needs from those of the other spouse. The relationship continues as long as each spouse s needs are taken care of to a reasonable degree. This process of needs fulfillment is straightforward until a barrier arises between the individual and satisfaction of an underlying need. The barrier builds tension to the point where the employee may find a substitute for the original need. Figure 4-2 illustrates how individuals find alternative ways to satisfy their needs through substitution. For example, suppose a husband and wife have different social needs. If the wife has stronger social needs than were being met by her husband, she might spend more time with her friends or join a club or church group. These are socially acceptable means around a barrier to satisfying a need, and they are referred to as substitution. But some people may do things that are not socially acceptable to satisfy frustrated needs or to relieve tension. In the case of our married couple, this might take the form of an affair. The term to describe this type of action is maladaptive behavior, which is a form of socially unacceptable substitution. In the case of our married couple, maladaptive behavior can take the form of having an affair or can be directed toward relieving the tension (drug or alcohol abuse). Figure 4-3 extends the earlier figure to include maladaptive behavior. (text continued on page 58) $ $CH :28:03 PS P

4 56 DEVELOPING THE TEAM FIGURE 4-2. SUBSTITUTION WHEN BARRIERS OCCUR Tension Grows Barrier Need Need Satisfied Behavior Follows Substitution $ $CH :28:04 PS PAGE 5

5 MOTIVATING YOUR PLAYERS 57 FIGURE 4-3. MALADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR WHEN BARRIERS OCCUR Tension Grows Barrier Need Need Satisfied Behavior Follows Substitution Maladaptive Behavior Relieve tension or Satisfy the need $ $CH :28:05 PS P

6 58 DEVELOPING THE TEAM If substitution and/or maladaptive behavior do not satisfy the need, or at least relieve the tension, abandonment may result. This is the case when all hope of satisfying a need in the present situation has been exhausted. For the married couple, this could manifest itself as divorce or remaining in a loveless marriage. Figure 4-4 depicts abandonment. The classic example of abandonment comes from the behavioral sciences, with an experiment that focused on a pike, a carnivorous fish. Researchers initially fed the pike live minnows, which the pike would chase and eventually eat. They then placed a piece of plate glass in the tank and put the minnows on the other side. The pike could see its dinner but could not get to it. The pike beat its head on the glass divider repeatedly, but eventually it gave up and settled down to the bottom of the tank. The experimenters didn t want the pike to die, so they took the plate glass out and the minnows eventually swam around the entire tank. The pike literally starved in the midst of plenty, having abandoned all hope of satisfying its needs in that environment. But what does this look like on the job? Ideally, employees have their needs satisfied on the job to a reasonable degree. But if an employee has a need, such as that for recognition, and it is not satisfied on the job, that employee may seek roles outside the workplace to fulfill that need. Substitution may take the form of directing energy both on and off the job to roles that provide recognition. For example, an employee may spend time on the job doing volunteer work that receives more recognition than work on the job. Maladaptive behavior can take the form of lateness or absenteeism, but it can also be a factor in alcohol or drug abuse. Abandonment can be seen when employees quit to find other work that may better meet their needs. Or they may retire on the job, working but not motivated to do a better job since they have abandoned hope of satisfying their needs in that environment. Maslow s Hierarchy of Needs Fortunately, a person s needs do not appear in random fashion but rather in a hierarchy or ranking of importance. The behavioral psychologist Abraham Maslow de $ $CH :28:05 PS PAGE 5

7 MOTIVATING YOUR PLAYERS 59 FIGURE 4-4. ABANDONMENT WHEN BARRIERS OCCUR Tension Grows Barrier Need Need Satisfied Behavior Follows Substitution Maladaptive Behavior Abandonment Relieve tension or Satisfy the need $ $CH :28:06 PS P

8 60 DEVELOPING THE TEAM scribed seven different levels of need that cause individuals to prioritize their needs and thus to have different motivations in different circumstances. 1 Most management books discuss only the five detailed below, omitting the remaining two because they do not readily apply to the workplace. Those final two are the need for spirituality and the need for the aesthetic (balance, order, and beauty). Figure 4-5 shows the hierarchy of needs. Here are the needs that apply more to the work environment: Survival/Physiological: This is the most basic level of need, for air, water, food, shelter, and sex. These needs result from our physical makeup. Severe financial or health problems can drive a worker to operate at this needs level. Security: This needs level extends survival need into the future. While survival is centered on the here and now, security is based on having survival needs fulfilled in the longer term. Social: This need level is centered on relationships with other people. Each of us is different as to how much social contact we need; the stronger your social needs, the more you will bend to the will of the group to gain acceptance. Esteem: This needs level can be divided into esteem of others and selfesteem. You must balance these esteems in your life so that you do not ignore the comments of others but at the same time are not immobilized by what others say. Self-actualization: This needs level is the desire to become all that we can become. It is characterized on the job by enjoying the work itself while experiencing autonomy and professional growth. Even though Maslow s two other needs have been left out of most management books, there is a growing realization that those needs, too, can be important (and satisfied) in the workplace. But the classic five-layer hierarchy is unquestionably helpful in understanding employee behavior on the job. Employees do their best work when they are working at jobs that satisfy their higher-level needs, which means they are in jobs that they enjoy and are challenged to do their best. But the lower needs levels can be distracting if not met. For example, an employee who $ $CH :28:07 PS PAGE 6

9 MOTIVATING YOUR PLAYERS 61 FIGURE 4-5. MASLOW S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS Higher-Level Needs Self- Actualization Esteem Lower-Level Needs Social Security Physiological/Survival $ $CH :28:08 PS P

10 62 DEVELOPING THE TEAM has health problems will no longer work effectively. Similarly, if an employee is experiencing a dramatic change in his or her personal life, security and social needs take over as the most important, and the quality of work will usually decline. Putting the Needs Hierarchy to Work In addition to helping managers understand why employees do what they do, the hierarchy of needs can help you determine appropriate forms of recognition. People operating at lower needs levels should be given tangible rewards such as money and gift certificates. If social needs are the most important, then group recognition is in order. Those on the esteem-needs level respond best to plaques and honors, while those who are at the self-actualizing level are not as interested in traditional rewards, since they get greater satisfaction from the work itself. It is also critical to remember how quickly circumstances can change needs levels, so recognition that is appropriate at one moment may become inappropriate at another. As you think about your employees, also think about yourself. Are your lowerlevel needs for survival, security, and social interaction being met in your work? Do you have the opportunity to get positive recognition and to grow on the job? Are your higher-level needs being met in your work environment? For your employees, you are a major component of their work environment. Have you and the organization created a work environment where your people can satisfy their needs on the job? Satisfaction on the Job In an attempt to determine what factors lead to worker job satisfaction, psychologist Frederick Herzberg conducted a study in which people were asked to describe their most satisfying and dissatisfying experiences on the job and to give the reasons why. 2 They also were asked to describe their levels of performance in the two experiences. Think about a time when you were most satisfied on the job. It could be your $ $CH :28:08 PS PAGE 6

11 MOTIVATING YOUR PLAYERS 63 present job, or a past job in the same or a different organization. What made the job so satisfying? What was the quality of your work? Similarly, think about a time when you were most dissatisfied on the job. What made the job dissatisfying? What was the quality of your work? Was it as good as when you worked at the job where more of your needs were met? When these questions were asked of large groups of people, two different sets of factors typically appeared where responses were analyzed. We call these sets of work issues motivators and maintenance factors. For motivators, certain factors related to the satisfaction of higher-level needs (esteem and self-actualization) appear frequently when individuals describe their most satisfying experiences on the job: Achievement: Employees indicated that they were accomplishing something of genuine value on the job. Recognition: Employees indicated that they received appropriate recognition for their work. Responsibility: Employees indicated that they had responsibility for their work or the work of others. Work itself: Employees indicated that the work itself was enjoyable. Advancement: Employees indicated that the job led to a promotion or a better position. Personal growth: Employees indicated that they learned new knowledge or skills as a result of having the job. While each factor was not present in every description of an individual s most satisfying experience, nearly all included at least one of the factors. These factors became known as motivators since the surveyed individuals indicated that they were performing their jobs at a very high level. The impact of motivators is felt on the job for a long time. How many of these factors were present when you had your most satisfying work experience? $ $CH :28:09 PS P

12 64 DEVELOPING THE TEAM Dissatisfaction on the Job In the same survey, these same people described their least satisfying experience on the job. The factors that appeared were not the absence of motivators but the presence of a different group of factors. These latter factors were originally called hygiene factors, reflecting Herzberg s earliest work with the pharmaceutical industry. He used the analogy of hygiene as being a way to avoid illness (dissatisfaction on the job) and because the factors appear to be related to lower-level needs. These factors associated with dissatisfaction are now usually described as maintenance factors since they maintain people on the job but do not promote performance above minimal levels: Policies and administration: Employees indicated that they had problems with their organization s policies and administrative procedures. Quality of supervision: Employees indicated dissatisfaction with the quality of supervision they received. Relationships with others: Employees indicated dissatisfaction with the interpersonal relationships they had with seniors, peers, and subordinates. Work conditions: Employees indicated that they had problems with the work environment and conditions. Salary: Employees indicated that their salaries did not reflect their performance or their contributions to the organization. Impact of the job on personal life: Employees indicated that the job had an adverse effect on their personal lives. How many of these factors were present when you had your least satisfying work experience? What You Can Do As a manager, you need to realize that you can maintain your employees by providing a safe and secure work environment where their lower-level needs are satisfied $ $CH :28:09 PS PAGE 6

13 MOTIVATING YOUR PLAYERS 65 (maintenance factors). You can also motivate them when they have an opportunity to achieve, grow, and be recognized to satisfy higher-level needs. Maintenance factors will not motivate workers after the related lower-level needs are satisfied; motivators are necessary to sustain performance. Let s take a look at several types of motivators. Job Enrichment A technique that adds opportunities for employees to fulfill their higher-level needs is job enrichment. By enriching their jobs you can ensure more opportunities for them to take pride in what they are doing. Remember, of course, that you must ensure that their lower-level needs are met to some reasonable degree before attempting to enhance their jobs. There are certain core dimensions of a job that come into play as you enrich the jobs that people are doing: 3 Task identity: Employees can identify more with the final product; they produce an identifiable product that they can take pride in making. Task significance: Employees can see how their work affects the finished product, the others whom they work with, and the customers who will use the product. Variety of skills: Employees use many different skills to complete their work. Autonomy: Employees make decisions regarding how the work process is done, such as the production schedule and procedures to do the job. Feedback: Employees receive timely, specific feedback on the quality of their work. Responsibility: Employees are given responsibility for the completion of the tasks. Job enrichment has to be tailored to the situation. I once toured a plant where one group of workers was responsible for building test equipment that was used to calibrate other test equipment. The company was experiencing a high return rate for $ $CH :28:10 PS P

14 66 DEVELOPING THE TEAM the test equipment that wasn t up to standard, and a high turnover of employees. Management was using an assembly-line means of production, in which each worker performed several simple tasks and passed the unit on to the next employee. The manager went to his twenty employees and asked how the company could improve the quality of the work environment as well as the quality of the product. The suggestion was made that they end the assembly line and that each of the employees produce the final product individually. This change would require cross training all of the employees and more production equipment, but the change was made, with great success. Here s how the core dimensions of the job were changed: 1. Each employee could identify with the finished product since he or she now built the whole unit (task identity). 2. Each employee could see the significance of each of the steps since the individuals now built the whole unit themselves (task significance). 3. Each employee was required to use a wide variety of skills as he or she built the whole unit individually (variety of skills). 4. Employees were no longer dependent on each other. The shop went to flextime, whereby employees could start and end each day when they wanted as long as they were there from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for training and lunch together. Employees who wanted to come in later or leave earlier than the old hours didn t have to ask permission as long as they worked eight hours each day (autonomy). 5. Each unit was inspected by Quality Assurance, and feedback was provided to the employee who built it. Additionally, the employee s initials were included in the unit s label and returned to the employee who built it if there was a return under the warranty (feedback). 6. Each employee took responsibility for the hours he or she kept and the quality of work done (responsibility). Job Rotation and Job Enlargement Job rotation is another way of adding motivators, addressing some of the core dimensions of a job. By moving your people through the various tasks that need to $ $CH :28:10 PS

15 MOTIVATING YOUR PLAYERS 67 be done, they will gain a better understanding of the work (task identity) and will see its importance (task significance), and they will also expand their skills (variety of skills). Where job rotation falls short is in the areas of autonomy, feedback, and responsibility. Job enlargement is when you add more work to an employee s job as a motivator. Remember, more is not always better. As you add more challenging work, you must also remove work. If you don t, the increased workload may upset the maintenance factors of work conditions and impact the employee s personal life. See Figure 4-6 for an illustration of effective job enlargement. Recognition The most powerful motivator you have is recognition. If used properly, recognition can shape the performance of employees and workgroups by recognizing exceptional performance that encourages others to improve their performance. For recognition to have successful results, the following points must be recognized: Recognition must be perceived by employees as being fair. If the same person is recognized all the time, and is the only person recognized, others will be less likely to improve. Sometimes it s better to reward the most improved rather than the best. Recognition should be at the recipient s needs level. Trophies and plaques work well at the esteem-needs level, but more practical rewards are necessary for the security- or survival-needs levels. If employees have strong social needs, group recognition may be more appropriate than individual recognition. Recognition can be tangible or symbolic. A pen with the company logo works best as a reward if the only way you can get one is by receiving it as a reward. The military services have long used medals that cost about $20 to reward individuals for valor and exceptional performance. Some of the most motivating rewards cost the organization little or nothing. These include timely praise, more flexible hours and greater autonomy, greater $ $CH :28:10 PS

16 68 DEVELOPING THE TEAM FIGURE 4-6. WAYS TO ENRICH JOBS Add to the Core Dimensions Add Pre-Work Target Job Add Post-Work Remove Work $ $CH :28:11 PS PAGE 6

17 MOTIVATING YOUR PLAYERS 69 involvement in decision making, more challenging and interesting responsibilities, and training and development opportunities. Recognition can be continuous or intermittent. Continuous reinforcement is when you give recognition every time the employee performs at a certain level. This can be useful as employees are learning their jobs and are at a low readiness level. Continuous reinforcement will shape the desired behavior quickly, but it may cause the employee to become dependent on recognition in order to continue good performance. Intermittent reinforcement is when you provide recognition every second time, then every third time, then intermittently as the employee performs as required. The advantage is that while you are decreasing the external motivator (recognition), you are allowing employees to experience the internal motivators of a sense of achievement, greater responsibility for their work, enjoyment of the work itself, and personal growth. The criteria for the recognition must be measurable and fixed so that employees know what is expected. By developing measurable criteria, management will clearly reinforce the standards of exceptional performance to all employees. Tips on Motivation The following tips will help you determine the best ways to motivate your employees. Motivation comes from within the employee; as a manager, you can create motion but not true motivation; individual needs and the tension of delayed satisfaction cause behavior. Each employee is different in terms of needs and what it will take in the workplace to satisfy these needs. If there s a barrier to satisfying a need on the job, employees may substitute, engage in maladaptive behavior, or engage in abandonment to cope with the lack of need satisfaction $ $CH :28:12 PS P

18 70 DEVELOPING THE TEAM Substitution is finding a socially acceptable way of meeting a need; maladaptive behavior is substitution that is not socially acceptable. Maladaptive behavior can be directed at the need or just at relieving the tension. Abandonment can lead to leaving a job or staying but giving up all hope of satisfying one s needs on the job: this is sometimes referred to as being retired on the job. While Maslow described seven needs in his hierarchy, as managers you are primarily concerned with five: three lower-level needs of survival, safety, and social, and two higher-level needs of esteem and self-actualization. Maslow s lower-level needs correspond in the workplace to Herzberg s maintenance factors of policies and administration, quality of supervision, relationships with others, work conditions, salary, and impact of the job on personal life. Maslow s higher-level needs of esteem and self-actualization correspond to Herzberg s motivators of achievement, recognition, responsibility, enjoyment of the work itself, opportunity for advancement, and personal growth. The lower-level needs or maintenance factors must be satisfied before the employee can be moved to jobs that fulfill the higher-level needs and he or she can respond to the motivators. Job enrichment is a way of adding motivators to a job by giving the employee a greater sense of identifying with the finished product, understanding how tasks are related to the finished product, using a variety of skills, having autonomy, receiving timely feedback, and having personal responsibility for the work performed. Recognition is the most powerful tool you have to improve individual and workgroup performance. A positive work environment is characterized as four positive strokes (recognition of good performance) for each negative stroke (correction). APPLICATION EXERCISE Figure 4-7 provides a way to analyze how enriched the job is for one of your employees. Complete the form by rating each core dimension of the employee s job on a scale $ $CH :28:12 PS

19 MOTIVATING YOUR PLAYERS 71 from 1 to 5. Then indicate what you will do to enrich that job by changing one or more of the core dimensions. (For a larger version of this and the other application exercise forms, visit FIGURE 4-7. JOB-ENRICHMENT EXERCISE Job-Enrichment Assessment and Planned Changes Rating Core Dimensions Low High task identity: Employees can identify with the final product task significance: Employees can see the relationship between their work and the final product variety of skills: Employees use many skills to complete their work autonomy: Employees make decisions regarding how the work process is done feedback: Employees receive timely, specific feedback on the work they have done responsibility: Employees are given responsibility for the completion of the tasks How will you make changes to enrich this job? task identity: task significance: (continues) $ $CH :28:13 PS

20 72 DEVELOPING THE TEAM FIGURE 4-7. CONTINUED variety of skills: autonomy: feedback: responsibility: Notes 1. Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed. (New York: Harper and Row, 1970). 2. Frederick Herzberg, Work and the Nature of Man (Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishing, 1966). 3. Richard Hackman, Greg Oldham, R. Janson, and K. Purdy, A New Strategy for Job Enrichment, California Management Review 17, no. 4 (1975): $ $CH :28:13 PS PAGE 7